A typical equipment rack is a rigid frame-like structure for supporting an assortment of electronic equipment. Such a rack is suitable for supporting components of various electronic systems such as a general purpose computer system, a data storage system, network equipment, test equipment, power supply equipment, as well as other types of equipment.
The front of such a rack typically includes a pair of parallel vertical rails to which the electronic equipment is mounted. Some equipment rack manufacturers and electronic equipment manufacturers provide front panels which fasten to the front of the equipment rack in order to cover the electronic equipment housed therein. In particular, such panels tend to provide a more aesthetically pleasing look to the equipment rack, as well as provide protection to the equipment housed within the equipment rack (e.g., discourages tampering, prevents external objects or bystanders from inadvertently contacting the equipment housed within the rack, etc.). Some panels are equipped with vents that enable air circulation, holes which enable a user to read information from output devices (e.g., LEDs, display screens, etc.), holes which enable the user to operate the equipment (e.g., buttons, dials, etc.), and emblems displaying one or more manufacturer trademarks, among other things.
One conventional equipment rack includes a left-hand fastener which fastens to a left-hand vertical rail at the front of the rack, and a right-hand fastener which fastens to a right-hand vertical rail at the front of the rack. The equipment rack further includes a panel having (i) a left-hand protruding side which extends perpendicularly from the left edge of the panel, and (ii) a right-hand protruding side which extends perpendicularly from the right edge of the panel. To attach the panel to the rack, a user first installs the left-hand and right-hand fasteners onto the rack (e.g., using hardware). Next, the user aligns the panel with the rack such that the left-hand protruding side of the panel is adjacent the left-hand fastener, and such that the right-hand protruding side of the panel is adjacent the right-hand fastener. The user then moves the panel toward the rack such that the protruding sides snap onto the corresponding fasteners thus holding the panel to the rack. To remove the panel, the user simply pushes the protruding sides of the panel toward each other, thus unlatching the sides from the fasteners and allowing complete removal of the panel from the rack.
Another conventional equipment rack employs a lockable hinged panel. Here, the rack includes a panel which has a hinge along its bottom edge, and a lock disposed along its top edge near the midpoint of the top edge. A user can selectively set the lock to either a locked state or an unlocked state using a key. To install the panel, the user first installs the hinge of the panel to the vertical rails of the equipment rack. In some situations, the user installs the hinge to the chassis of the equipment mounted to the equipment rack rather than directly to the rack itself. The panel is now hinged to the rack and can pivot about the hinge in a door-like manner. Next, the user rotates the panel upward and toward the rack about the hinge until a tab, which is controlled by the lock, latches the top edge of the panel to the equipment chassis or to a horizontal rail of the rack. At this point, the panel is fully installed onto the rack and, among other things, provides more secure access to the equipment, e.g., a user can lock the panel using a key thus preventing someone without the key from opening the panel from its closed position and tampering with the equipment. To open the panel, the user turns the lock to the unlocked state using the key, and pulls down on a small tab at the top edge of the panel. The small tab is free to move and disengage the top edge of the panel from the rack once the lock enters the unlocked state. Although the hinged edge of the panel remains fastened to the rack, the panel is now free to rotate downward and outward about the hinge to provide the user with access to the equipment.
Unfortunately, there are deficiencies to the above-described conventional equipment rack panels. For example, in connection with the conventional panel that has left-hand and right-hand protruding sides that latch to fasteners on the vertical rails of the equipment rack, the panel tends not to fasten very well to the equipment rack. In particular, the protruding sides of the panel can pop out over time (e.g., due to inadvertent contact with an external object or user, due to vibration cause by one or more fan assemblies mounted within the rack or nearby, etc.) thus causing the panel to inadvertently fall off the equipment rack. Furthermore, the panel has no locking mechanism (i.e., the panel simply snaps on and off) thus leaving the equipment housed within the rack vulnerable to tampering and/or theft.
Additionally, in connection with the above-described lockable hinged panel, the panel requires a hinge which connects the panel to the equipment rack in a relatively permanent manner. That is, a user can gain or prevent access to the equipment by opening and closing the panel in a door-like manner but, if for some reason the user must remove the panel completely, the user must disconnect the hinge from the rack. Such a task can, in some situations, be relatively complex and require manipulation of many separate parts thus risking losing the parts and/or risking improper reassembly.
In contrast to the above-described conventional panels, the invention is directed to panel attachment and detachment techniques which use a panel having a set of latches and a set of buttons. When the set of latches attaches the panel to a frame (e.g., an equipment rack), a user is capable of actuating the set of latches to disengage the panel from the frame by depressing the set of buttons (e.g., by pushing a first button and a second button disposed in a front face of the panel toward each other).
One embodiment of the invention is directed to an electronic cabinet (e.g., an equipment rack) having a set of vertically-oriented frame members (e.g., vertical rails), a set of fasteners attached to the set of vertically-oriented frame members, and a panel. The panel includes a cover, a set of latches coupled to the cover, and a set of buttons. When the set of latches engages the set of fasteners to secure the panel to the set of vertically-oriented frame members and when the set of buttons is depressed, the set of buttons disengages the set of latches from the set of fasteners to release the panel from the set of vertically-oriented frame members. Such a configuration enables a user to fully remove the panel from the cabinet without having to disconnect a hinge as in the above-described conventional hinged panel. Furthermore, such a configuration is well-suited for employing a locking mechanism that selectively enables or disables depression of the set of buttons to provide more secure equipment access.